Presence, in a networked enterprise setting, is a published indication of a user's availability and/or willingness to communicate with other users, such as by instant messaging (IM). The indication may be “basic,” including only limited information about the user (“online” or “offline”), or the indication may be “extended,” including more extensive information about the user, such as status and/or profile information.
In accordance with one basic presence model, one user (User A) cannot see the presence indication for another user (User B) unless the following condition is met:
User A adds User B to User A's messenger list; and
Either                User B approves (authorizes) User A to be on User B's messenger list; or        User B approves (authorizes) User A to view User B's presence without User A being added to User B's messenger list.Thus, once User B approves User A, each user can see the online presence indication of the other user.        
It can be difficult for a user to leverage existing contact information to initiate contact with other users. This can be an impediment to building a critical mass of users with which a particular user may IM. One proposed solution has included a user sending mass invitations to other users to add the user to the other users' messenger lists, but this process can be cumbersome, redundant and chaotic.